Suppose you were to ask a random person on the street to tell you where the best wine in the world came from. You’d probably be answered with France or Italy. Then ask them where the best wine in the US came from and you’d most likely hear California. And rightly so.

These regions have a long history of being wine-producing areas. In the case of France and Italy, that history goes back several centuries. And for Europe as a whole, that tradition goes back a couple of millennia at least.

While Napa Valley-California wineries can’t boast as long a history of winemaking as Europe, they can boast of producing world-class wines. These wines are comparable, and often better at times than the European variety.

What you most likely wouldn’t hear as an answer to that question is the cold, and often snowy, Pacific Northwest state of Washington.

The unique state of Washington

Washington state has some interesting characteristics. It’s known as the Evergreen State because at least fifty percent of its land mass is covered with forest. The Olympic Peninsula, west of Puget Sound, is home to the only temperate rainforest in the lower forty-eight states – the Hoh Rainforest. This area of the state gets an average of 120 inches of rainfall a year making it one of the wettest in the nation.

Other than Alaska, Washington also has the most glaciers of any other state in the union, totaling 3,101. The largest of these glaciers is over 10 square kilometers in size. Mount Rainer, standing at over 14,000 feet, has 26 alone.

Speaking of mountains, there are also ten volcanoes in the state including Rainer and the infamous Mount Saint Helens.

The Mount Saint Helens eruption in 1980 was the deadliest and most costly in US history at the time. Luckily none of the other volcanoes have given us any trouble and forecasts predict things should stay calm.

The state is also the current home, or original home, to some of the biggest well-known corporations in the country. Amazon, Microsoft, and Boeing all started up in Washington. And for you coffee lovers, Starbucks was founded in Seattle in 1971.

Washingtonians like to grow food

Washington state boasts a robust agricultural industry. The region is the biggest producer of apples in the US. The biggest college football game played in the state, between the University of Washington Huskies and the Washington State University Cougars, is called the Apple Cup in honor of that. Washington is also the largest producer of pears, sweet cherries, and raspberries.

I can remember a time in my Navy days when my ship went into port to refuel and resupply. We were in the Middle East and right there on the pier, among other things, was a pallet with boxes of apples from Chelan, Washington. It was a little piece of home from halfway across the world.

Many of Washington’s counties grow wheat and it’s also a mass producer of the nation’s crop of hops. No small wonder there’s a beer-drinking vigor in the people of this state. Washingtonians love to have a drink. I’ll admit I’ve been spoiled by the number of amazing microbrews available here.

Washington is wine country too

Most people don’t know this, but Washington is the second largest wine-producing state in the USA, after California. There are three distinct vineyard regions known as Washington Wine Country. These regions are the Yakima Valley, the Tri-Cities area, and the Walla Walla Valley.

For the football lovers, former New England Patriots quarterback, Drew Bledsoe, owns and operates a winery in Walla Walla called DoubleBack.

In 1983 the Yakima Valley region became the very first American Viticulture Area (AVA) in the state. There are currently eight regional AVAs and five within 70 miles of Yakima Valley alone. Of the 240 Washington wineries that include grapes grown from these AVAs, 90 of them call this region their home.

One of the most prominent, must-see AVAs of the Yakima Valley has got to be Rattlesnake Hills. This AVA produces world-class grapes, and wines, thanks to its warm climate, long sunny days, and excellent grape-growing soil.

The Rattlesnake Hills Wine Trail contains no less than 17 vineyards and wineries. For visiting wine lovers be prepared to experience award-winning, exquisite wines straight from the source. There are a multitude of tours available from buses to bikes, horseback riding, or just simply walking.

One such winery Amy and I had the privilege of experiencing was the family-owned and operated Bonair Winery. Their tasting room is located on their estate vineyard with acres of growing vines in all directions. I’ve never been to Tuscany before but the ambiance here felt just as authentic.

Bonair Winery and Vineyards

Located in the Yakima Valley at Zillah, Washington the Bonair Winery and Vineyards has been in operation since 1985. Their tasting room is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm from April thru October. They offer, by the glass or bottle, indoor and outdoor tasting, weather permitting, and reservations are not required.

Getting there is an absolute delight! You’ll drive through vineyards stretching for miles everywhere you look along with growing fruit orchards. It gives an authentic feeling of what wine country is supposed to be.

Bonair, like most wineries in the Rattlesnake Hills, is an estate winery. The tasting room is situated in the middle of their vineyards. As if driving through the vineyards wasn’t enough ambiance for you, now you get to walk down well-groomed paths between lush grape vines to the winery itself. And all the grapes you see growing will make the wines you end up drinking.

The tasting room is in a quaint, Tuscan-looking villa with all the charm that you’d expect from such a building. Named the Château Puryear after the vineyard it sits upon, which was named after the owners themselves. Out every window is a view of growing vines and, based on the interior decor, I almost expected the employees to speak Italian. Almost.

The Bonair offers an extensive list of wines available for tasting and buying. Everything from red to white to rose, dry to sweet. I’m not much of a wine drinker but, luckily for me, Amy is and always has great suggestions for wine-tasting adventures. And I’m starting to get a taste for it too, pun intended.

The tasting itself is a unique experience. They hand you a wine list, which you can keep, and you get 6 tastings for $10. The fee is waived if you end up spending $50 or more on wine or merchandise at the shop. The most fun part is that the employees are so attentive during your tastings that it’s like having a designated wine expert with you throughout the whole experience.

They provide insights on the different wine flavors, pairing the right wine with the right food, and how the winemaking process works just to name a few. But any questions you could think of about wine are all answered thoroughly.

Looking forward to going back

It was a fun way to spend an afternoon, to say the least. By the time all the tastings were over, I felt like I was a budding wine expert myself. Or maybe that was the wine talking? Either way, I’d do it all over again.

The Bonair was the only winery to be visited that day. Since there are 16 more wineries close by, I foresee another trip to the Rattlesnake Hills Wine Trail in my, hopefully near, future.

No complaints here.